We find a tall fruit tree by the side of a babbling brook. It’s so picturesque, like something out of a poem. All we’re lacking is a picnic lunch, though I’m not sure either one of us has much of an appetite.

I’m feeling woozy, so he leans up against the tree and lets me rest my head in his lap.

I lied to him. It’s a habit now, and honestly, not one I plan to break anytime soon.

I tell him most of the truth. I couldn’t tell him I’m a particle and a wave.

“Okay, now your brain really looks like it’s gonna fry. I knew you were running from something bad. Right now, I think we should run some more, and then you can tell me all about it once we’re someplace secure, okay?” he says, eyes utterly calm.

“Okay,” I say. I can scarcely believe my luck, because right now, all I need is time to think.

I’ve never been able to jump with someone who wasn’t a Margery. I didn’t think I could bring someone along for the ride.

Oh Christ. How the hell am I going to explain this to him?

“You look like you’re thinking awfully hard, MJ. Like you’re trying to figure out what just happened, and what’s gonna happen next, and what you’re gonna say about it all. You look like your brains are gonna cook inside your skull from all that, so tell you what: Don’t feel like you’ve gotta explain it to me. Soon’d be good, but not right now.”

I push, harder than I ever have before, harder than I believed myself capable of. I feel my brain slide into place, like I’m taking a test and I’ve just remember a particularly tricky bit of information. But amplified, so its a sensation that makes my whole body feel like I’ve been tossed into a frozen lake.

We jump.

We land with force, impacting the surface of another world, far from the chaos at Abilene. I got us both, and I am astonished.